Jeff Nabers’ Self Directed IRA & Solo 401(k) Blog

A recent Onion News article has hit dead on what is wanted right now by the masses of the American public. As ridiculous as this article sounds, this type of mentality is exactly what’s been behind many “investment decisions” of the average American in recent past.

Read the article here, and then keep reading my blog if you’d like a more sound approach to investing.

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P.S. Just to be on the safe side, I’ll give you a heads up that The Onion is a satirical, “fake news” organization.

In Part 1 of this post, we examined the facts concluding that inflation is caused by monetary debasement. In this follow up, we’ll observe the reason behind why common belief is that inflation is at 3% - 5%. First, let’s recap what was already covered:

What is Inflation?

Inflation is the steady, continual rise in the price of goods. It is typically measured using a “basket of goods”. In this approach, the prices of many different goods are tracked and then integrated using some sort of logical weighting calculation.

What causes inflation?

In most developed countries, money is created by a central banking system. In the US, our central banking system is that of the Federal Reserve, a private bank. Money can be created by the Federal Reserve depositing newly created money into its member banks in exchange for US bonds. This increases the amount of money in existence. Additionally, every bank in the US has the ability to lend out 7 to 11 times as many dollars as it has in deposits. This also increases the amount of money in existence. With an increased money supply, prices rise. A continually increasing money supply, aka monetary debasement, causes inflation.

What is the current rate of inflation?

This is where there is a difference of opinion. For decades, inflation has been estimated using a “basket of goods” approach. In this method the price of each of a variety of goods is tracked, a logical weighting is applied, and the output is the rate of inflation, usually annualized. Under this method we can see inflation swinging up and down through economic cycles. In the early 1980’s, this data shows inflation at nearly 15% per annum. This is based on the published figures of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In the early 1990’s the methodology of inflation reporting changed drastically, thus rendering the BLS “official” figures virtually useless. Unfortunately, these BLS figures continue to be used as if they were accurate.

A change in calculation method

Around 1993, Alan Greenspan argued that there was a flaw (more…)

One investment philosophy that has grown in popularity is “Because most mutual funds can’t even outperform stock indices, just invest in index funds.” This idea builds on the assumption that “over the long haul, the stock market goes up 10% each year.” Guess what…

The stock market does not go up 10% per year in the long run

• The math is just plain wrong. Lying averages tell us if you average the annual returns of the stock market it will equal its performance… but, as the name implies, it is not true. Lying averages tell you that if you are aiming for a 10% average return, and you have a 20% loss one year, it will take a 30% gain the next year to get back on track. Truthful math will tell you it will take a 50% gain just to get back on track for a 10% average annual return. Think about that in light of the stock market activity in 2000, 2002, and 2007.
• Any returns less than inflation is truly a loss. With inflation currently at 11.58%, you’ll need a 21.58% annual return to grow your wealth at 10% per year.

Just look at the last 10 years of data…

On the chart above, the red line reflects (more…)

I just got done interviewing John Rubino, co-author of The Collapse of the Dollar - Make a Fortune by Investing in Gold & Other Hard Assets, and it was quite interesting. Rubino stated that:

Over the last 7 years the stock market has dropped [as significantly] as it did during the Great Depression.

“WHAAAT?!!” you say. He explains that our perception of this strong bear market has been softened by the declining value of the dollar. In the spirit of comparing apples to apples, we must first consider that in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s the dollar was fixed to gold. So, in essence, the stock market’s decline was measured in gold. According to Rubino, you would see a depression-like chart if you were to measure the past few years of the stock market in gold.

The most convincing thing about his perspective is that he accurately predicted the burst of the housing bubble… in 2003. He forecasted that those who would suffer the most from the popping bubble would be homebuilders’ stocks, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, and real estate prices in “hot” (at the time) areas. He even went on to explain that the contributing factions would spill over into other parts of the economy including financial services companies, and banks themselves. At that time, the idea of one of the country’s largest investment banks (Bear Sterns) becoming insolvent sounds crazy, but Rubino warned us all with How to Profit from the Coming Housing Bust: Money-Making Strategies for the End of the Housing Bubble. In fact, if you would have followed his advice to the “T”, you would have profited immensely , provided that (more…)

With gas prices and virtually every other cost of living rising, responding to the declining dollar is something we all have probably thought about by now. One option available to us all is precious metals: namely gold, silver, and platinum.

The trick with getting metals into a retirement plan is in the Internal Revenue Code section that deals with collectibles. Strangely enough, it’s not in section 4975 (which deals with prohibited transactions); it’s in 408 which deals with IRAs. Even more odd is the fact that one part of this section is applicable to self directed qualified plans (like a Solo 401k) with no reference to its applicability within the code sections for qualified plans. This is why tax attorneys have work to do.

In 408(m)(2), they prohibit investment into collectibles and further define collectibles to include any metals or coins. 408(m)(3) goes on to exclude certain coins and bullion from being defined as “collectibles” for the purposes of disallowed investments. It breaks these “certain coins and bullion” down into two categories. (A) is essentially American Eagle coins minted by the United States. (B) is bullion that that meets or exceeds the fineness required by regulated futures contracts if such bullion is in possession of a custodial account at a bank or trust company.

So when it comes to Self Directed IRAs and Solo 401(k)s, it appears that American Eagle coins are allowable for (more…)